Come Winter, I Head to the Hothouse

When I'm visiting family in Virginia during winter, I always
make a point to walk through the botanical gardens near the Capitol in
Washington, DC. It is one of my favorite places, and the hothouse flower rooms
are just what I need to warm myself through when it is so chilly outside.

Over the holiday, I made it a point to go there with a
mission: Get inspired by the flowers and plant life so that during the next few
months when I'm stuck inside, I will have inspiring images to work from when I
want to focus on painting flowers.

A hothouse poinsettia
at the botanical gardens.

The gardens don't have flower arrangements or cut flowers on
display, so I was able to focus on how to paint flowers
as they naturally occur and grow in the wild. It was really interesting to observe
how differently plants grow and sprawl about. You don't understand the flower
in the same way when it has been neatly clipped and arranged in a vase.

The jungle plant life at the gardens. Look at all the shades of green!

I also wanted to avoid looking at flowers and flowers alone
because a flower bud is only one part of a flower oil painting. All the
greenery, leaves, and stems that come along with a blossom deserve attention
too. I, therefore, spent a lot of time in the jungle room, where it was humid
and sticky and all of the foliage is lush and verdantly green. It may not suit
you if you want to paint colors, but I thought all of the different leaf
formations and different shades of green with the light hitting them was really
lovely.

I hope to take the images I found and work with them to
create colorful and organic floral paintings in the next few months. But before
I put brush to canvas I'm going to brush up on my painting flowers techniques
with our Guide to Painting Flowers.
The contemporary artists featured in the magazine really inspired me, and there
are so many ways you can incorporate floral painting that I can't imagine
getting enough fo this. I hope it is the same for you. Enjoy!

P.S. Where did you go over the holidays that might inspire your artwork in the future? Leave a comment and let me know!